"Su 899 625 2 § 



TRACT NO. IV. 

Published by the Republican Association, of Washington, under the direction of 
the Congressional Republican Executive Committee. 



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iilE SLATE TRADE. 



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The proceedings and debates during th'fe last 
session of the late Congress, indicate a most 
marked deterioration of moral sentiment at the 
South in respect to the African slave trade, and 
are fearfully ominous of the near approach of 
the time, when, at any rate in the Gulf States, 
that hitherto universally reprobated traffic will 
be as heartily sustained as is the institution of 
slavery itself. 

Only so lately as in 1856, when Mr Etheridge 
of Tennessee presented resolutions in the House 
on that subject, nobody in that body was found 
bold enough to express any sympathy for the 
slave trade, and his resolutions, as modified in 
their phraseology by Mr. Orr of South Carolina, 
were agreed to with only eight dissenting votes. 
And even as to these votes, whatever may have 
been the real motives which controlled them, 
they were given professedly, not from any ob- 
jection to the opinions set out in the resolutions, 
but from an opposition to the adoption of any 
resolutions whatever, and upon the ground that 
the revival of the African slave trade was not a 
practical question before the country. 

Nevertheless, in the face of all this apparent 
unanimity, Mr. Etheridge in 185 6. predicted that 
the Democratic party at the South would ulti- 
mately adopt the African slave trade as a part 
of its creed and policy, and the prediction, ex- 
traordinary as it appeared when made, is even 
now being verified. Mr. Etheridge understood 
thoroughly the composition of the political com- 
bination, whose future course he predicted. His 
error, if he committed any, was in not anticipa- 
ting the rapidity with which a foregone conclu- 
sion would be reached. 

The Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation 
Bill which was passed last winter, contained, 
among other things, a clause appropriating 
seventy-five thousand dollars to enable the Presi- 
dent of the United States to carry into effect the 
act of March 3, 1819, the proposed appropriation 
being based upon an executive statement of the ex- 
penses incurred, and to be incurred, in the return 
to Africa of the negroes rescued from the Echo. 



These expenses consisted of the bounties due by 
law to the ofBcers capturing the Echo, of the cost 
of trials and of supporting the negroes prior to 
their delivery in Africa, and of a sum, equal to 
one hundred and fifty dollars per head, agreed 
to be paid to the Colonization Society, for main- 
taining the negroes for one year after their deliv- 
ery in Africa, and for instructing them, during 
that period, in the arts of civilized life. The 
proportion of these sums was as follows : 
Bounties - - - - - - $7,850 

Expenses of trial and of supporting ne- 
groes before delivering them in Af- 
rica _---.- 35,050 
Colonization Society - - - - 32,100 



75,000 
The law under which these expenSfes were in- 
curred, was the second section of the act of 
March 3, 1819, which section is in the words 
following : 

" And be it further enacted^ That the President 
' of the United States be, and he is hereby, au- 
' thorized to make such regulations and arrange- 
' ments as he may deem expedient for the safe 
' keeping, support, and removal beyond the lim- 
' its of the United States, of all such negroes, 
' mulattoes, or persons of color, as may be so de- 
' livered and brought within their jurisdiction, 
' and to appoint a proper person or persons, re- 
' siding upon the coast of Africa, as agent or 
' agents for receiving the negroes, mulattoes, or 
' persons of color, delivered from on board ves- 
' sels, seized in the prosecution of the slave trade, 
' by commanders of the United States armed 
' vessels." 

The history of the proceedings of the Govern- 
ment under this section, is, that President Mon- 
roe, soon after the law was passed, called the at- 
tention of Congress to a possible doubt which 
existed, whether it authorized any expenditure 
in respect to rescued negroes, after their deliv- 
ery in Africa. He, however, informed Congress 
that he should proceed upon the construction 
that such expenditure was authorized, unless 



MouofrraplJ 






that body should remove doubt by declaratory 
legislation, and give him directions to proceed 
differently. Congress has never acted further 
upon the subject, and the construction given to 
the law by President Monroe, has been acted upon 
without interruption from that day to this. Very 
considerable expenses seem to have been incurred 
in this way. Mr. Dowdell of Alabama stated in 
a speech made in the House on the 25th of Jan- 
uary, that, up to the year 1830, the cost of re- 
turning two hundred and sixty recaptured ne- 
groes had amounted to the sum of §204:, *Z 00, be- 
ing more than one thousand dollars per head. 
This is more than three times the rate of cost 
upon the Echo negroes. 

Although it is hardly worth while, after a con- 
struction of law has been settled by a practice of 
forty years, to discuss the merits of it, it would 
certainly seem, that the expression of doubts by 
President Monroe, should be ascribed rather to 
his extreme caution and scrupulosity, t!ian to any 
uncertainty fairly to be found in the law itself. 
It provides, in express terms, for " receivint/ the 
ncfjrocs "' upon the coast of Africa, and for an 
agency for that purpose. It must have been 
contemplated that such an agency would involve 
all the expenses necessary to the '■'■receiving" of 
destitute and distressed persons, who must be 
maintained until they can be put in the way of 
obtaining their own livelihood. Human beings, 
even if they are black, cannot be discharged 
upon a barren strand like bales of goods. The 
law did not contemplate that they should be 
thus left to shift for themselves. They were to 
he '■'received," and by a suitable agency to be des- 
ignated for that purpose, and to be '■'• received" of 
necessity, not as merchandise, but as men, 
women, and children, with all the wants and 
claims of humanity. 

The appropriation proposed last winter in re- 
spect to the negroes rescued from the Echo, was 
thus required by a proper and long-settled con- 
struction of the act of March 3, 1810, and would 
never have been assailed, but for the newly- 
awaikened desire to revive the African slave trade. 

In the House, on the 27th of January, two mo- 
tions in respect to this appropriation were voted 
upon ; one made by Mr. Dowdell of Alabama to 
strike out the appropriation altogether, and the 
other made by Mr. Crawford of Georgia to reduce 
the appropriation from seventy-five to forty-five 
thousand dollars, so as to cut off the sum pro- 
posed to be paid to the Colonization Society for 
maintaining and educating the negroes for one 
year after their delivery in Africa. 

In substance there was no difference, in intent, 
or in eifect, between these two motions. The 
adoption of either, nullified and practically ab- 
rogated the act of March 3, 1810. The motion 
of Mr. Dowdell left no provision for the expenses 
of returning rescued negroes to Africa, or of snp- 
{lorting them prior to their return. The motion 
of Mr. Crawford would leave them to be thrown 
naked upon the coast of Africa, there to perish 
by hunger or violence; a course of procedure so 
repugnant to humanitj-, as to be certain to ren- 
der the act of I\Iarch 3, 1810, odious, and there- 
by to bring about its repeal. 



Nevertheless, although the effect of the two 
motions was in reality the same, that of Mr. 
Dowdell was most offensive in point of form. 
The motion of Mr. Crawford had this pretence ofj 
justification for it, that it was affected to be 
placed upon a doubt whether the act of March 
3, 1810, authorized any expenditure upon res- 
cued negroes, after thej' were landed in Africa. 
The motion of Mr. Dowdell had no pretence of 
justification whatever. Neither he, nor anybody 
else, presumed to deny that the act of March 3 
promised certain bounties to the recaptors of 
unlawfully-enslaved negroes, and that it also 
provided for their support until they were re- 
turned to Africa. So far, the law was explicit 
beyond all peradventure, and to strike out the 
whole appropriation, was to abrogate and nul- 
lify the law altogether. But it may be repeated 
again, that if thus more offensive in point of 
form, as it undoubtedly was, the policy indicated 
by Mr. Dowdell's motion was not, in intrinsic 
demerit, one v;hit worse than the proposition of 
Mr. Crawford. And, indeed, it may fairly be 
questioned, if it would not be more humane to 
repeal the whole act of March 3, 1810, than to 
throw cargoes of negroes upon the coast of Af- 
rica, among strange tribes, without shelter, food, 
or means of any Jiind. 

The motion of Mr. Dowdell was negatived, 
yeas 28, nays 103. Those who voted in the af- 
firmative, were as follows ; 

South Carolina — Messrs. Bonham, Boyce, 
McQueen, and Miles. 

Tennessee — Messrs. Avery, Maynard, and 
Wright. 

Texas — Mr. Bryan. 

Virginia — Messrs. Caskie and Goode. 

Florida — Mr. Hawkins. 

Alabama — Messrs. Cobb, Curry, Dowdell, 
Houston, Moore, Shorter, and Stallworth. 

Georgia — Messrs. Crawford, Gartrell, Seward, 
Stephens, and Trippe. 

Louisiana — Messrs. Davidson and Sandidge. 

Mississippi — Messrs. McRae and Singleton. 

North Carolina — Mr. Euffin. 

The motion 'of Mr. Crawford was negatived, 
yeas 50, nays 145. Those who voted in the af- 
firmative, were as follows : 

Tennessee — Messrs. Avery, Maynard, Watkins, 
Wright, and Zollicoffer. 

Mississippi — Messrs. Barksdale, McRae, and 
Singleton. 

ViuGiNiA — ^lessrs. Bocock, Caskie, Edmund- 
son, Garnett, Goode, Hopkins, Jenkins, Letcher, 
and Smith. 

South Carolina — Messrs. Bonham, Boyce, 
McQueen, and Miles. 

North Carolina — Messrs. Branch, Euffia, 
Shaw, and Vance. 

Texas — Mr. Bryan. 

Kentucky — Messrs. Burnett, Clay, Peyton, 
Stevenson, and Talbott. 

Alabama — Messrs. Cobb, Curry, Dowdell, 
Moore, and Stallworth. 

Georgia — Messrs. Crawford, Gartrell, Jackson, 
Seward, Stephens, and Trippe. 

Louisiana — Messrs. Davidson, Eustis, and 
Sandidge. 



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Florid A~Mr. Hawking. 
'" Illinois— Mr. Hodges. 

North Cabolixa— Messrs. Ruf5n, Shaw, and 
Vance. 

Of the one hundred and forty-five votes against 
Mr. Crawford's motion, only nineteen were from 
the slave States, as follows : 

Missouri— Messrs. Anderson, Cariithers, Craig, 
and Phelps. 

Maryland— Messrs. Bowie, Davis, Tacaud, and 
Stewart. 

North Carolina— Messrs. Gilmer and Wins- 
low. 
Arkansas — Mr. Greenv.-ood. 
Tennessee — Messrs. Jones and Smith. 
Kentucky— Messrs. Marshall, Mason, and Un- 
derwood. 

Virginia — Mr. Millson. 
Delaware — Mr. Whitely. 
Georgia — Mr. Wright. 

Thus, of the sixty-eight slave-State members 
present and voting, forty-nine voted for Mr. 
Crawford's motion. Of the absentees, Mr. Wood- 
son of Missouri, who came in after the vote was 
declared, said he should have voted for the mo- 
tion, if he had arrived in season. 

Another motion in respect to this appropria- 
tion, had been voted upon in Committee of the 
Whole on the 26th of January. This was made 
by Mr. Bonham of South Carolina, and being re- 
jected in Committee of the Whole, there is no 
record to show who supported it. 

Mr. Bonham's motion was to qualify the ap- 
propriation by the following proviso : 

" Provided, That no part of this sum shall be 
' used for schooling the children, or for instruct- 
' ing the children and adults in the arts of civ- 
< ilized life." 

Mr. Bonham said, among other things : 
" It is now, for the first time, that we have an 
' instance in an appropriation bill for teaching 
' Africans the arts of civilized life. This is the 
« point." 

Mr. Bonham could tolerate nothing, which 
treated Africans as if they were capable of being 
civilized, or which implied the idea, that it was 
desirable to civilize them. He saw too clearly, 
that an idea like that, carried out in the practice 
of the Federal Government, was a cutting rebuke 
to the institutions of his own State, and of all 
the Southern States, in which the education of 
the negro is prohibited as criminal. According to 
the logic and morals of South Carolina, negroes 
are born to be slaves, not to be civilized. 

The opposition in the House to the appropria- 
tion for the expenses of the Echo negroes, was 
carried to an unusual extreme. The principal 
portion of the men concerned in it, having failed 
to strike the appropriation out of the Consular 
and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill, voted against 
the passage of the bill itself, and succeeded in 
defeating it three times. They did this, although 
they were the political friends of the Adminis- 
tration, and under party obligations to sustain 
the general appropriation bills for carrying on 
the Government. This violent course of proce- 
dure, proposing to sacrifice an entire appropria- 
tion bill rather than submit to an obnoxious sec- 



tion, marks the rancor and desperation of the 
partisans of the African slave trade. 

In the Senate, this appropriation for the Echo 
negroes gave rise to the same discussions which 
it had excited in the House. 

Mr. Clay of Alabama moved to strike out the 
whole appropriation, but, just before the vote 
was taken on the IGth of February, he so modi- 
fied his motion as to propose to strike out ST5.000 
and insert $45,000, being a motion similar to 
that made in the House by Mr. Crawford. 

Mr. Clay's motion was negatived, yeas 12, nays 
40, the foilowing Senators voting for it : 

Messrs. Chesnut, Clay, Davis, Fitzpatrick, 
Hammond, Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Ma- 
son, Beid, Thompson of Kentucky, Toombs, and 
Ward. 

Of the forty negative votes, twelve were from 
the slave States, (if we reckon Delaware as 
such,) as follows : 

Messrs. Bates, Bell, Benjamin, Crittenden, 
Green, Houston, Hunter, Mallory, Pearce, Polk, 
Slidell, and Yulee. 

Let us now examine what vv-as said ia the de- 
bates in Congress upon this Echo appropriation. 
In the House, on the 25th of January, Mr. 
Dowdell of Alabama said : 

" I will take this occasion to say, without dis- 
' cussing the expediency of reopening the slave 
' trade, a matter tvhich properb/ belongs to the sov- 
' ereign States ichose industrial policg is to be affected 
' bij 'if, that the laws are highly oSensive in de- 
' fining that to be piracy upon the high seas 
< ivhich is not robbery, and in attaching the death 
' penpJty to an act which in itself is not necessa- 
' rih/ immoraV 
Mr. Clay of Kentucky said : 
" I am opposed to all these laws on our stat- 
' ute book in relation to the slave trade, and I 
' will not vote a dollar for the purpose." 

In the House, on the next day, (January 26th,) 
Mr. Crawford of Georgia said : 

"In 1819, the whole South was unanimously 
against the slave trade. Noic, it is becoming divi- 
dcd, and unless the war upon slavery is stopped, 
jiftcen years u-ill tvitness the trade o'pcn for the 
South, and our then Mexican possessions reach- 
ing to Guatemala certainly, and probably fur- 
ther south." 

Mr. Seward of Georgia said : 
" I look upon the law for the suppression of the 
slave trade as mischievous and wrong. While I 
do not pretend to commit myself in reference 
to the policy of the slave trade as affecting the 
States whose interests would be touched V 
it, I am opposed to the whole law, because I 
think it wrong and a violation of the Constitu- 
tion. * "■'■ '-^ 
" Your navy is to be used as a police to inter- 
fere with the business of citizens, and to arrest 
themfor a crime which is said to be piracy. I say 
that that strikes at the institution of slavery at 
the South. I want to have that law repealed. 
I want to leave this matter to be settled by the 
States as a domestic question. I doubt whether, 
so far as tny State (Georgia) is concerned, she 
would be benefited by the foreign slave trade, 
because I think she has at present a suf3acient 



/' 



' supply of labor. But fhere are other States 
' that may differ from us in that respect ; for in- 
' stance, the State of Texas ; and I want all the 
' States to have the right, without the interfer- 
' ence of Congress, to carry on the slave trade, if 
' they wish." 

Mr. Clay of Kentucky, by way of explaining 
and modifying what he had said on the previous 
day, declared that he was opposed to the reopen- 
ing of the slave trade, although he disliked the 
existing laws against it, and especially disliked 
the 8th article of the Ashburton treaty. He said: 

"I am especially opposed to another law, or 
' rather treaty stipulation, on our statute book, 
' and that is the 8 th article of the treaty of Wash- 
' ington. I regard it as an entangling alliance 
' with Great Britain. I regard it as an alliance 
' 30 entangling, that last year it produced all 
' those outrages on our flag which occurred in 
' the Gulf, and it is producing every day out- 
' rages upon our flag on the coast of Africa. It 
' is an entangling alliance which requires us to 
' ke^p a force of eighty guns constantly on the 
' coast of Africa." 

Mr. Miles of South Carolina said : 

" I am not prepared to advocate the reopening 
' of the slave trade, but I am prepared to advo- 
' cate, with all my mind and strength, the sweep- 
' ing away from our statute book, of laws which 
' stamp the people of my section as pirates, and 
' put a stigma upon their institutions. I will never 
' consent, if I can possibly help it, to allow this 
' stigma to remain, which degrades and puts a 
' slur upon the people of my part of the Confed- 
' eracy. I believe, Mr. Chairman, that these are 
' questions that ought to be left, as gentlemen 
' have said, to time ; and to be controlled, more- 
' over, by the sovereign States themselves. I have 
' very grave and serious doubts about the con- 
' stitutionality of the laws for the suppression of 
' the slave trade." 

In the House, on the 2'7th of January, Mr. 
Crawford of Georgia said : 

" This question of opening the slave trade is 
' one of the highest importance, and one which 
' threatens to make and unmake parties in the 
' country. It is a question v,-hich grows stronger 
' and stronger every da;/, and I beleive the result 
' of it will be the building up and tearing down 
' of party platforms." 

In the debate in the Senate, February IG, Mr. 
Mason of Virginia and Mr. Brown of Mississippi 
both maintained that humanity required that the 
Echo negroes sho\ild have been retained in the 
United States as slaves. 

Mr. Mason said : 

" If humanity had been consulted, or, rather, if 
' humanity could have been consulted instead of 
' consulting the actual provisions of the law, 
' these negroes, I presume none will doubt, would 
' have been far better provided for by retaining 
' them in the country into which they had been 
' illegally brought, and making such provision 
' for them in a state of bondage as the laws of 
' the States where they were landed would ad- 
' mit of, or might require." 

Mr. Brown said : 

" The only inhumanity inflicted upon them at 



' all, was by the action of your Government. 
' They would have been delighted to remain in our 
' country. Slavery here is better than that sort oj 
^freedom ivhich they evjoyed at home. They were 
' not allowed to do it. They were seized, put on 
' shipboard, and sent out of the country. Now, 
' we are asked to foot the bill, to do it without 
' even the shadow of authority under the Consti- 
' tution. I would repeal the law, repeal it in- 
' stantly, as not based upon the Constitution 
' which we are sworn to support." 

Some other proceedings in Congress last win- 
ter, in connection with the slave trade, are de- 
serving of notice. 

On the 23d of December, Mr. Blair of Missouri 
asked leave to submit the following resolution : 

^'- Resolved, That the Committee on the Judi- 
' ciary be, and hereby is, instructed to report a 
' bill more efiectually to prevent the slave trade, 
' under the guise of the ' coolie trade ' so called, 
' or of ' apprentices,' or of ' African labor import- 
' ation companies,' or under any other name, or 
' in any other guise, the real purpose or effect of 
' which maybe, directly or indirectly, immediate- 
' ly or ultimately, to make slaves of the persons 
' so procured and transported." 

Unanimous consent being required, objection 
was made by Mr. Houston of Alabama. 

On the same day, Mr. Kilgore of Indiana asked 
leave to submit the following resolution: 

'■^Resolved, That the President of the United 
' States be requested to report to this House, 
' what information has been received by him in 
' regard to the recent importation of slaves from 
' Africa into Georgia, and what steps, if anj, 
' have been taken to punish this violation of the 
' laws of the United States." 

Unanimous consent being required, objection 
was made by Mr. Garnett of Virginia. 

On the 26th of January, the Committee of the 
Whole House having under consideration the 
Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill, Mr. 
Seward of Georgia moved the following as an 
amendment: 

" Provided, further. That all the laws heretofore 
' passed, prohibiting the slave trade, be and the 
' same are hereby repealed. And that the policy 
' of restricting the foreign slave trade be left 
' with each of the States, as afiecting their own 
' local policy." 

This amendment was not voted upon, being 
ruled to be out of order. 

On the 23d of December, Mr. Sandidge of Lou- 
isiana introduced a resolution, which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for the ab- 
rogation of that article of the Ashbur),on treaty 
which requires the keeping of a squadron on the 
coast of Africa, for the suppressix)u of the slave 
trade. 

On the olstof January, Mr. Kilgore of Indiana 
asked leave to submit the following resolutions : 

"Whereas the laws prohibiting the African 
' slave trade have become a topic of discussion 
' with newspaper writers and political agita- 
' tors, many of them boldly denouncing these 
' laws as unwise in policy and disgraceful in 
' their provisions, and insisting on the justice 
' aud propriety of their repeal, and the revival of 



' the odious traffic in African slaves ; and mrereas 
' recent demonstrations afford strong reasons to 
' apprehend that said laws are to be set at defi- 
' ance, and their violation openly counte_ianced 
' and encouraged by a portion of the citizens of 
' some of the States of this Union ; and -whereas 
' it is proper, in view of said facts, that the sen- 
' timent of the people's representatives in Con- 
' gress should be made public in relation thereto : 
' Therefore, 

"1. Bcsolved, That while we recognise no 
' right, on the part of the Federal Government or 
' any other law-making power save that of the 
' States wherein it exists, to interfere with or dis- 
' turb the institution of domestic slavery where 
' it is established or proWcted by State legisla- 
' tion, we do hold that Congress has power to 
' prohibit the foreign traffic, and that no legisla- 
' tion can be too thorough ia its measures, nor 
' can any penalty known to the catalogue cf mod- 
' ern punishment for crime be too severe, against 
' a traffic so inhuman and unchristian. 

" 2. Resolved, That the laws in force against 
' said traffic are founded upon the broadest prin- 
' ciples of philanthropy, religion, and humanity; 
' that they should remain unchanged except so 
' far as legislation may be needed to render them 
' more efficient ; and that they should be faith- 
' fully and promptly executed by our Govern- 
' ment, and respected by all good citizens. 

'• 3. Resolved, That the Executive should be 
' sustained and commended for any proper effort, 
' whenever and wherever made, to enforce said 
' laws, and to bring to speedy punishment the 
' wicked violators thereof, and all their aiders 
' and abettors." 

Mr. Burnett of Kentucky objected to the intro- 
duction of these resolutions, but it being in order 
on that day to move a suspension of the rules, 
Mr. Kilgore moved that they be suspended, so 
that his resolutions might be considered. The 
suspension of the rules was not carried, yeas 115, 
nays 8-1 — not two-tuirds. 

Of the affirmative votes, only five were from 
the slave States, as follows: 

Maryland — Messrs. Bowie, Davis, and Ricaud. 

NoKTH Carolixa — Mr. Gilmer. 

Kentucky — Mr. Marshall. 

And of these live, only one, Mr. Bowie, belongs 
to the Democratic party. 

The negative vote came, as to the bulk of it, 
from the slave States. The balance was con- 
tributed by their Northern allies, as follows : 

Messrs. Barr, Florence, Gillis, Gregg, Lawrence 
W. Hall, Hodges, Miller, Kiblack, Searing, Aaron 
Shaw, Robert Smith, George Taylor, Vallandig- 
ham, "^."hite, and Wortendyke — 15. 

In the Senate, on the IGth of February, the 
following discussion took place between Mr. 
Wilson of Massachusetts, and Mr. Hammond of 
South Carolina : 

" Mr. Wilson. We have branded the slave 
' trade ; we have passed laws against it ; and, 
' although we were the first nation to brand the 
' slave trade, I suppose that, owiug to a variety 
• of causes not necessary to discuss at this time, 
' we have done as much as any other people to 
' keep that trade alive. Our ships have hovered 



' on the coast of Africa and have engaged in the 
' traffic. One of those ships has been captured 
' by a vessel of our navy and brought into this 
' country. These Africans, in the spirit of the 
' law — I say nothing about the letter of the law — 
' have been returned, and the President of the 
' United States has made a bargain with the only 
' men, it seems to me, with whom he could have 
' made a bargain, the colony of Liberia, to take 
' care cf these recaptured Africans. I tliiuk the 
' President of the United States, in so acting, 
' acted according to the spirit of the law, and 
' according to the public judgment of the coun- 
' try ; and, for one, I give my vote most freely to 
' carry out the bargain the President of the Uni- 
' ted States has made. 

" Whether it be strictly legal or not, I care 
' not. I always notice that when an act of hu- 
' manity, an act of liberality, an act of justice, 
' is to be performed, it is very difficult to find 
' authority, either in the Constitution or laws of 
' the country. For myself, I see in the law of 
' 1819 enough to authorize the President to make 
' this bargain, and my own heart impels me to 
' give it a prompt and decisive vote. I simply 
' say that there is a disposition in this country, 
' and it is said there are secret organizations in 
' this country, to reopen the slave trade ; that 
' hundreds of thousands of dollars have been 
' subscribed to carry it out and engage in the 
' trade — to defend the trade ; and that, in por- 
' tions of this country, grand juries cannot be re- 
' lied upon to indict persons if caught in that 
' trade. Well, sir, we have made a capture ; we 
' have returned those persons. I want it to go 
' out to the country and to the world, for the 
' credit of the American name and the American 
' character, that the contract made by the Presi- 
' dent of the United States is in accordance with 
' the sentiment of the people, and that he is sus- 
' tained by a vote approaching unanimity in the 
' Congress of the United States. 

" Mr. Hajimoxd. The Senator from Massachu- 
' setts says that there are parts of the United 
' States where grand juries cannot be found to 
' indict persons engaged in the African slave 
' trade. I should like to know to what part he 
' alludes. 

" Mr. Wilson. Mr. President, I do not know 
' that I said that there were parts of this coun- 
' try where grand juries would not indict. I 
' said there were portions of this country where 
' it was believed they would not. It remains to 
' be seen whether that be the case or not. I 
' want to say, in reference to the statement I 
' made, that it was but a day or two since I had 
' a conversation with a gentleman, who was a 
' member of the last Congress, from the Southern 
' States — a man who, in Congress, always spoke 
' for and advocated the policy of slavery. He 
' has spent this winter mostly in Alabama, and 
' he said to me, the other day, that he was amazed 
' at the sentiment he found in the Gulf States ; 
' that that sentiment approached unanimity in 
' favorof reopening the slave trade; and, from the 
' investigations he had made, he was satisfied 
' that organizations existed for the opening of the 
' trade ; that money was subscribed for the busi- 



' ness ; and that it would be extremely difficult, in 
' that part of the country, to get a grand jury to 
' find an indictment, or to get a conviction from a 
' petit jury ; that he was amazed at the senti- 
' ment generally pervading that part of the coun- 
' try ; and that we had no conception of it here. 
' I think that anybody who has read of the move- 
' ment led by Mr. Yancey of Alabama, and other 
' gentlemen in that part of the country, will come 
' to this conclusion : that there is a party, mainly 
' in the Gulf States, extending through a portion 
' of the Southern States, in favor of reopening 
' the slave trade; and these doctrines have been 
' avowed during the present session of Congress, 
' by gentlemen representing that section of the 
' Union, in the other branch of Congress. 

" Mr. Hammoxd. I am not at all, nor is any 
' portion of the South, liable for the impressions 
' which any person travelling through the South 
' may form. There is no sort of doubt that a few 
' persons in the South, some of them highly re- 
< spectable, wish to open the African slave trade; 
' but from what knowledge I have rnyself, and 
' from what knowledge I have received, and I 
' have been active in inquiry, my opinion is, that 
' nine-tenths of the people of the South are ut- 
' terly opposed to it ; and I think the more the 
' subject is discussed, the fewer will be the num- 
' ber who are in favor of reopening the slave t 
' trade. I will inform the Senator from JIassa- I 
' chusetts of one fact of which I supposed he I 
' was cognizant: that during the past week the i 
' grand jury in Savannah has found true bills in ! 
' two different cases against persons whom it 
' was alleged had participated in the African j 
' slave trade." 

-Air. Hamruond is a great slaveholder, and, like ' 
most of his class, is opposed to the opening of a | 
trade which would reduce the value of his prop- I 
erty. But it is most evident that the strength of ' 
his own opinion against that trade, misled him 
in respect to the actual sentiraent and to the tend- ! 
ency of sentiment at the South. He could not t 
possibly express himself to-dav, with the confi- 
dence which he displayed on the IGth of Febru- i 
ary. At that time, he repudiated, and with ap- I 
parent resentment, the suggestion that Southern ' 
grand juries would refuse to find indictments for 
violations of the laws against the slave trade. 
Since that time, a trial jury in his own State has 
acquitted the officers and crew of the Echo, who 
were XakQn Jlagruntc delicto; and at this day, it is 
admitted that nowhere at the South is it possible 
to obtain convictions for similar offences. 
_ Mr. Hammond was mistaken, as to the condi- 
tion of Southern sentiment at the time when he 
spoke, but still more mistaken as to the course 
and tendency of Southern sentiment. Jlr. Craw- 
ford, who declared that the slave-trade question 
was "ffroidnr/ slromjerand strom/ir," and would 
soon make and unmake parties and platforms mi 
the South, understood that matter, it is evident, a 
good deal better than Mr. Hammond did. Mr. 
Crawford is a politician who belongs to the pres- 
ent day and generation. Mr. Hammond, recalled 
to public life from a long retirement upon his 
plantation, belongs to the past. 
Nevertheless, if the present and recent condi- 



tion of public sentiment at the South is not what 
Mr. Hammond, in February, supposed it to be, it 
certainly was so at a period not remote. The South- 
ern feeling in favor of the slave trade, to what- 
ever extent it now actually exists, is certainly a 
new thing under the sun, 'although it may have 
resulted from a train of causes which have been 
in operation a good while. If it has been long 
at work out ot sight, the disorder has, at any 
rate, broken out suddenly; so suddenly, indeed, 
that the existence of it is hardly yet realized. 

Nor is it necessary to be true, in order that we 
should suff-^r all that we possibly can suffer from 
the evil, that the slave-trade sentiment should 
get possession of the whole South, or even of a 
major part of the Souff. If that sentiment be- 
comes predi?>minant in any one State so situated 
as to carry on the trade, the mischief is done. 
But the actual case is, that the whole tier of 
States upon the Gulf of Mexico is infected; and 
this being so, the African slave trade may wax 
and flourish, be the predicament of public opia- 
i ion, in Virginia, Maryland, or even South Caro- 
j lina, what it may. It is the region upon the 
j Gulf which wants more slaves than it raises, and 
the evil becomes formidable indeed, when the 
j people of that region, with its vast stretch of sea 
: coast, determine to receive cheap slaves from 
[Africa, rather than dear ones from the northern 
slave States. 

I The movement at the South in favor of the 
j slave trade, although new and sudden, is, after 
all, only a logical and necessary result of the 
ideas which have been propagated in that quar- 
ter during the last twenty-tive years. When 
the old ground, unanimously maintained by the 
revolutionary fathers, that Slavery was a great 
evil, to be endured only until it could be got rid 
of by safe and practicable methods, was aban- 
doned for the new doctrines of Mr. Calhoun, that 
the institution was a positive good, establishing 
the best relations between capital and labor, and 
beneficial alike to both parties to it, a movement 
in favor of the African slave trade could not be 
long postponed. In no respect more objection- 
able, and in many respects vastly less so, than 
the slave trade between Virginia and the Gulf 
States, it has the powerful recommendation of the 
greater cheapness in the cost of the commodity 
dealt in, and this relative cheapness has been 
continually on the increase, the price of slaves 
in Virginia having more than duplicafed within 
a quarter of a century. 

Of late years, also, schemes of aggrandizement, 
looking to the double objects of control in the 
Union so long as the Union may endure, and of 
laying the foundations for a powerful slave- 
holding empire upon the Gulf of -Mexico in the 
event of the di'-ruption of the Union, have taken 
possession of the Southern mind; and to these 
schemes, in anything like the development and 
proportions designed by those who cherish them, 
the revival of the African slave trade seems to 
be essential. Slavery cannot exist withoutslaves ; 
and if, as Mr. Crawford of Georgia supposes, the 
slaveliolding section is to absorb the whole of 
Mexico, quite to Guatemala, within fifteen years, 
or within three times that period, it can only be 



7 



done by fresh importations of negroes. In no 
other way is it possible, considering that free 
white laborers multiply more rapidly than negro 
slaves, to prevent such a prior occupation by free 
institutions of so much of the continent as re- 
mains to be occupied, as will confine slavery 
within territorial limits, not susceptible as yet 
of precise demarkation, but discernible, never- 
theless, with sufficient definiteness and distinct- 
ness, to alarm politicians proverbial for their far ■ 
sighted anticipation of future events. 

As a matter of fact, the African slave trade 
with the United States, is now actually reopened, 
after being closed for half a century. The current 
information of the day leaves no room to doubt 
that cargoes of slaves are being landed, from time 
to time, in the Gulf States, and that preparations 
are being made to enter upon the traffic in good 
earnest and upon a large scale. The conditions 
exist, which render the continuance and expan- 
sion of the traffic inevitable. There is a market 
for the subject-matter of the traffic, offering a 
profit vastly exceeding the risk. In fact, the 
risk is reduced to the small one of capture upon 
the high seas by the public vessels of the United 
States, and it is now certain that such capture 
involves only the loss of ship and cargo, unat- 
tended with danger of personal punishment to 
the parties concerned. If the cargo is once 
landed, the risk is enaed, and the venture reali- 
zed. Southern newspapers contain advertise- 
ments from responsible planters, offering so much 
per head for imported Africans. The interposi- 
tion of legal authority has become abortive. Law, 
according to our frame of Government, is only 
enforceable through the instrumentality of juries, 
and Southern juries reflect, not the law, but the 
humors and prejudices of the vicinage. In the 
case of the Echo, taken with a full cargo of ne- 
groes on board, there was not merely not a con- 
viction, but an absolute acquittal. A failure to 
convict might have resulted from the perversity 
of a single juror, but an acquittal required the 
concurrence of the whole panel. After an ac- 
quittal in such a case, it is idle to expect convic- 
tions in any case. The risk is thus nominal, 
while the profits of the trade are enormous. 
The risk is really less than that of the slave trade 
in Cuba, where heavy bribery is necessary with 
the Spanish officials, while the price of slaves in 
the United States exceeds the price in Cuba two- 
fold, and the profit of the trade with the United 
States must therefore be more than twice as 
great as with Cuba. Where the carcass is, there 
will the vultures be gathered together. Where 
there are tempting profits, there will be no lack 
of men to do the business. If the Gulf States 
will buy raw Africans at five times their cost, 
there will be no want of sellers. Capital enough, 
ships enough, and seamen enough, can be found 
in New York city alone, to supply to the Gulf 
States one hundred thousand negroes annually. 
To anticipate such results, it is not necessary to 
assume the universal or even general dopravity 
of mankind. This evil work may be done by a 
few persons, and it is sufficient to know that no 
business ever failed to be carried on, which of- 
fers remuneration to avarice. 



This reopening of the slave trade with the 
United States, which ma" now be regarded as 
an accomplished fact, is cae of the great events 
of the present times. To deal with it and put it 
down, by any proceedings subsequent to the land- 
ing of the victims of the trade, seems to be im- 
possible. Our forms of Government are popular, 
even in the judicial department, and a fixed pre- 
determination of juries, in respect to any class 
of subjects, overrides law, or, rather, settles prac- 
tically what the law is. It is quite as true that 
the law is in the breast of the jury, as that it is 
in the breast of the judge. 

It is this well-understood control of the locali- 
ty, over the actual administration of law emana- 
ting from the central authority, which was doubt- 
less one of the circumstances which created the 
strong desire for the acquisition of Cuba, on the 
part of all that class of persons who favor the 
revival of the African slave trade. The people 
of Cuba having been born and bred to that traf- 
fic, it could be carried on there against Ameri- 
can law, just as it always has been carried on 
against Spanish law ; and if the island was made 
a part of the United States, the transfer of slaves 
from it to the slave-buying States upon the Gulf 
of Mexico would become a legitimate commerce. 

Upon the whole, if the African slave trade, 
now opened, is to be closed again, it must be 
done by operations on the coast of Africa and 
upon the high seas, and, to this end, there must 
be a complete reversal of the influences which 
dominate over the Government at Washington. 
Instead of abrogating the eighth article ef the 
Ashburton treaty, the number of guns upon the 
coast of Africa should be increased, and effective 
light-draught and swift steamers substituted for 
slow-going sail vessels. But, without going into 
the details of measures, the whole animus of the 
Government at AVashington must be changed. 
Interpreting the past by thelight of present events, 
it is now evident that the real object of certain 
preposterous pretensions as to the sacredness of 
mere flags, without reference to the real nation- 
ality of vessels, was to facilitate the carrying on 
of the slave trade. So, too, without reference to 
doubtful and disputed questions of the right of 
visitation, it is now evident that the repulse of 
all overtures from foreign Powers, looking to 
amicable and well-guarded conventions upon this 
subject, is attributable to a secret spirit of favor 
towards the slave trade, which has long luiked 
in the governing dynasty in this country, and 
which has at length broken out without disguise 
and without shame. He must be charitable and 
confiding indeed, who believes that Administra- 
tions at Washington, controlled by the Gulf States, 
will ever do anything effective towards shutting 
up the African slave trade. Not such aid, or 
such defenders, do the times demand. If our 
laws are to be executed, there must be different 
executive agents. What is wanted, in short, to 
put down this infamous traffic, is a Republican 
President, and that would suffice to accomplish 
the object. The election of such a President 
would be felt in everj- slave barracoon in Africa. 
He might not alter the letter of the instructions 
under which our cruisers act, but the spirit in 



l\ 



8 



which they would be executed would be instant- 
ly changed. Like master, like man. Official subor- 
dinates are quick to uaderstand, without express 
words, what is desired of them. It is one thing 
for the officers of a squadron of observation to 
know that they best please the powers that be 
by seeing nothing and doing nothing, and quite 
another thing for them to know that their offi- 
cial superiors will punish remissness and reward 
activity. The 8'h article of the Ashburtoa 



treaty would be a dead letter no longer, if the 
executive power of this country represented its 
moral convictions upon this subject. That is the 
change which the case demands, and it would 
effect a remedy, as suddenly as a thunderbolt 
dissipates the foul vapors of the atmosphere. 
And without this remedy, there appears no ra- 
tional hope of arresting such an expansion ot 
the slave trade, as will rivet slavery upon the 
continent, beyond the reach of help, or hope. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 

Stereotyped by Blancbard's Patent, issued February 22, 1859. 

1859. 



i 



\'-. 



s 



HBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011899 625 2 4 



[ Evening Journal — Extra. ] 



THE 8LAYERY QUESTION 



IK MEW-TOMIt:. 



IN ASSEMBLY, January 23, 1S50. 



Mr. Ford, of Erie county, from a majority of 
the select committee to which were referred all 
the resolutions, tlocumeuts, &c., on the subject 
of Slavery, reported, for himself, Mr. Green of 
Greene county, and Mr. Eoot of Herkimer coun- 
ty, the following' resolutions : 

Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That the peo- 
ple of the State of New-York are strongly at- 
tached to the Federal Union, and consider its 
preservation a matter of the highest interest to 
themselves, the whole country, and the cause of 
civil liberty : That while to sustain it on their 
own part, they vi-ill faithfully abide by all the 
provisions, compacts and compromises of the 
constitution, they will also firmly oppose all at- 
tempts, from whatever source they may come, 
and under whatever pretence they may be made, 
to dissolve the Union. 

Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That the peo- 
ple of the State of New-York are uncompromis- 
ingly opposed to the extension of slavery into 
any territoiy of the United States where it does 
not now exist, and that our senators in Congi-ess 
are hereby instructed, and our representatives 
are requested, to use their best efforts to pre- 
veut such extension, by such coustitiitioaal legis- 
lation as may be necessary. 

Resolijed, (if the Senate concur) That the peo- 
ple of the State of New-York have learned, with 
great satisfaction, that the people cf California 
have adopted a constitution which is in accor- 
dance with the free institutions of oitr country ; 
and our senators in Congress are hereby instruc- 
ted, and our repi'eseutatives requested, to vote 
for the admission of California into the Union as 
a state. 

Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That in the 
opinion of this legislature, Congress have the 
power of exclusive legislation over slavery in 
the District of Columbia, and that our senators 
in Congress are hereby instructed, and our re- 
presentatives requested, to endeavor to procure 
the passage of a law that shall put an end to 
the slavery trade in that District. 

Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That the Gov- 
ernor be requested to transmit a copy of the 
foregoing resolutions to each of the senators and 
representatives in Congress from this state. 



Mr. Raymond, of New-York, for himself and 
Mr. BowEN of N. Y., the minority of the same 
committee, submitted the following 

REPORT. 

The minority of the select committee to which 
was referred so much of the Governor's Message 
as refers to slavery, concurrent resolutions pas- 
sed by the State Senate, and sundry resolutions 
offered in the Assembly, upon the same subject, 
Report : 

That the minority of that committee cannot 
unite in reporting to the Assembly the resolu- 
tions adopted by the majority, because they do 
not regard them as a satisfactory expression of 
the sentiments of the people of this State, upon 
the subject to which they refer. 

The minority deemed it the duty of the com- 
mittee to report resolutions which should embo- 
dy as accurately and fully as possible, the pria- 
ciples and wishes of the people of this State in 
regard to slavery, so far as the action of their 
Senators and Representatives in Congress may 
be connected therewith. It seemed to them im- 
portant that, in view of the aspect w^hich the 
relations of slavery to the federal government 
have assumed, and of the discussion aud action 
upon those relations now pending in Congress, 
the sentiments of the people of New- York should 
be cori'ectly and distinctly set forth ; and they 
sought, therefore, to frame such resolutions as 
shoul(!r effect that object, rather than express 
merely the opinions of individual members of 
the committee, or even of the Assembly. 

The extension of slaverj^ into territory of the 
United States now free, is the principal point of 
interest and importance connected with this sub- 
ject at the present moment ; and the committee 
have, therefore, endeavored to ascertain, from 
the most accessable and reliable sources of infor- 
mation, the sentiments of the people of this State 
upon that point, and upon the pi-oper action of 
Congress in regard to it. 

They fiud that at the session of the Legis- 
lature of 1848, a resolution was passed in the 
Assembly by 107 affirmative votes, there being 
but 5 votes against it, instructing our Seim- 
tors and requesting our Representatives in Cou- 



H 6' 






Ingress " to use their best eflbrts to insert into any 
act or ordinance establishing territorial govern- 
ment for any territory belonging to the United 
States, or fundamental article or provision which 
shall provide, declare and guaranty that slavery 
or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment 
for crime, whereof the party shall first have been 
duly convicted, shall be prohibited therein, so 
long as the same shall remain a territory." 

At the session of 1849, a resolution embodying 
the same sentiments, in nearly the same words, 
was passed in the Assembly by 114 affimative 
and 3 negative votes ; and our Senators were 
further instructed, and our Representatives re- 
quested, by a vote of 104 to 16, to use their best 
efforts to procure the passage of a law which. 
would prohibit the " extension of the laws of 
Texas, or the institution of domestic slavery over 
that part of New Mexico lying east of the Rio 
Grande." 

The minority of your committee have not been 
able to discover any evidence that the people of 
this state have at any subsequent time, disap- 
proved of any of these sentiments thus set forth 
by their immediate representatives in the As- 
semblies of 1848 -and 1849. On the contrary 
they find substantially the same views and opi- 
nions reiterated in the popular conventions of 
the several political parties into which the peo- 
ple of this state have been and still are divided. 

At a state convention of delegates representint' 
the whig party held at Syracuse in September 
3849, a resolution was adopted declaring it to be 
the " right and the duty of Congress plainly to 
yrohilit the establishment of slavery in any por- 
tion of the territories of the union at any time 
here_after." 

The same sentiments were proclaimed in lan- 
guage equally explicit, in conventions of a very 
Jarge section of the democratic party held at 
Herkimer on the 26th of October, 1847,— at 
Utica February 16, 1848, June asd, 1848, and 
again September 14, 1848. And in a joint con- 
vention of both jiortious of the democratic party 
held at Syracuse, Sept. 14, 1849. it was 

" Resolved, That Congress has full constitution- 
al power over slavery in the territories of the 
United States, and should exei-t that power on all 
occasions of attempts to introduce it there." 

And the precise intent and meaning of that 
resolution were still more clearly evinced by the 
xejection, by the same joint democratic state 
convention, of the following resolution offered 
by Mr. S. M. Burroguhs, of Orleans county : 

_ " Resolved, That we are opposed to the exten- 
sion of slavery, into the territories of the United 
States, and that we will use all conslUntional 
means necessary to prevent such extension." 

This resolution was rejected on the express 
ground that its language was ambiguous and 
equivocal. 

These are the declarations of the several par- 
ties which comprise all the people of the Stale 
of New-York. Taken in connection with the 
action of the Legislature, at its two last succes- 
sive sessions, and with public opinion, as ex- 
pressed through its usual organs, they demon- 
strate, in the judgment of the minority of your 
committee, a greater unanimity of sentiment on 
the part of the people of the State of New-York 
than has ever been evinced upon any other poli- 
tical question. That sentiment, thus unanimous, 
affirms, first, the power and the right of Con- 
gress, under the constitution, to prohibit, by po- 



sitive enactment, the extension of slavery into 
territory now free ; and second, the duty of Con- 
gress to exert that power by inserting such a 
prohibition into any act which they may pass, 
establishing territorial gevernment for any such 
territory. 

In the judgment of the minority, it is the duty 
of your committee to embody these sentiments, 
distinctly and unequivocally, in the resolutions 
vvhich they may report for your action. Those 
offered by the majority, do not, in their opinion, 
accomplish that object. They do not declare 
the constitutionality of a law prohibiting the ex- 
tension of slavery into territory of the Union 
now free, nor do they recommend to Congress 
the passage of such a law. A person who should 
hold that Congress had no power whatever over 
slavery in the territories, and who should be ut- 
terly opposed to any attempt on the part of Con- 
gress to exercise such power, could vote for 
them conscientiously and consistently. They 
express only the .sentiments, and nearly in the 
language, of the resolution rejected by the joint 
convention of the two branches of the demo- 
cratic party held at Syracuse on the 14th of 
September, 1849. 

Such resolutions furnish, in the judgment of 
the minority, no proper expression of the senti- 
ments of the people of the State of New-York, 
iior are they calculated to give to those senti- 
mentsthe weight to which they are justly enti- 
tled in the councils of the federal government. 

The minority of your committee, therefore, in 
the discharge of their duty, report the resolutions 
upon-this subject already adopted by the Senate, 
and respectfully recommend the concurrence of 
the Assembly therein. 

HENRY J. RAYMOND. 
JAMES BOWEN. 

RESOLUTIONS. 
In Senate, January 16, 1850. 

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur.) That as the 
federal constitution, was ibrmed and adopted ex- 
pressly to secure the blessings of liberty to the peo- 
ple of the United States and their posterity, there- 
fore the federal government ought to relieve itself 
from all responsibility for the existence or con- 
tinuance of slavery, or the slave trade, wherever 
it has the constitutional power over those sub- 
jects ; and our Senators in Congress are hereby 
instructed, and our Representatives are requested, 
to use their best efforts to procure the passage of 
laws that will eiVectually and forever put an end 
to the slave trade in the District of Columbia. 

Rcsoh'ed, (if the Assembly concur.) That the 
determination indicated by the Governor's mes- 
sagers, and the resolutions of the legislatures of 
various of the slaveholding states, and by the 
representatives of such states in Congress, to ex- 
tend dfimestic slavery over territoi-y acquired by 
the late treaty of peace with the Republic of 
Mexico, we feel bound to oppose by all constitu- 
tional means ; and our Senators in Congress are 
hereby instructed, and our Representatives re- 
quested, to use their best efforts to ]>rohibit, by 
positive enactment, the pxtension of slavery over 
any part of such territory, liowever small, and by 
whatever pretence of compromise. 

Rciolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That our 
Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Rep- 
resentatives requested, to resist firmly, and to 
the utmost of their ability, and by such positive 



3 



legislation as may be necessary, the extension of 
human slavery or the jurisdiction of Texas, over 
any part of New-Mexico. 

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That we 
have learned witli great satisfaction that the peo- 
ple of California have adopted a constitution 
which is entirely in accordance with the spirit 
of the free institutions of our country ; aud our 
Senators in Congress are hei-eby instructed, and 
our Representative requested to aid in the pas- 
sage of such laws as may be necessary to admit 
that Sta,te into the Union. 

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That the 
people of this State are desirous of preserving 
inviolate the Federal Union, and that they will 
strenously oppose all attempts, from whatever 
source they may emanate, or under whatever 



pretence they may be made, to effect its dissolu- 
tion. 

Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That the 
Governor be requested to transmit a copy of the 
foregoing resolutions to each of the Senators and 
Representa^'es from this State in Congress. 

Mr. Raymond subsequently made the following 
amendment to the second of the above resolu- 
tions ; and no objection being made, the amend- 
ment was receivfed as part of the original reso- 
lutions : 

The last clause of the second resolution is 
stricken out, and the following clause substituted: 

" And, recognizing the constitutional power of Congress 
to prohibit the introdaction of slavery 'into any territory 
now free, our Senators are hereby instructed, and our Rep- 
resentatives requested, to use their best efforts to procure 
the insertion of such a prohibition into any law they may 
pass, for the government of such territory." 



I TRRflRY OF CONGRESS 

■iii. 

011 899 525 Z § 



